Retail Sales Growth Slows to 0.6%: Beijing and Shanghai Ease Property Curbs, Is Stabilization Policy Beginning to Intensify?

July economic data once again exposed weak domestic demand: retail sales growth slowed to 0.6%, investment continued to face pressure, and medium-to-long-term financing demand from households and enterprises remained soft. Meanwhile, Beijing relaxed home purchase restrictions and stepped up housing provident fund support, Shanghai continued to optimize housing policies, the national provident fund system was expanded, and consumption and fiscal tools were also rolled out intensively. Viewed individually, none of these policies is aggressive in scale; but placed on the same timeline, they begin to show signs of a transition in countercyclical policy from piecemeal support to combined intensification. What the market truly needs to assess is whether this will become the starting point for further upgrading of stabilization policies in the second half of the year.